Monday, August 24, 2015

Packing for a Move While Homeschooling

Hard to believe I'll be starting my daughter's 3rd grade year a week from tomorrow! I'm so glad I got so much prep done early in the summer before we found out we'd have to move. My days the last couple weeks have been filled with packing.

Wanted to share here the system I've set up for packing. One thing I've learned after multiple moves over many years--several of which were from one state to another--is that it's really hard to ensure boxes end up where you want them. The good folks who unload your truck for you are primarily interested in getting everything out of the truck and inside fast, which doesn't necessarily translate into the boxes being in the RIGHT place. After our last move, I had a box that was supposed to be placed in our master bedroom end up under several others in a storage area. I was worried for a long time that its important contents had been lost. I was SO glad when it finally turned up!

Actually, our last move, from Pennsylvania to Kentucky, was probably my most successful move yet as far as boxes ending up in the right place. That box was one of only a handful that ended up in the wrong place. That's because it was the first move that I did more than label my boxes. I color-coded them!

Each room/family member was assigned a color. I used squares of colored paper taped onto the boxes to identify each room. Then I made a sign for the front door of our new home so people could check that before putting a box away.

With this move, I have taken that idea and improved on it. This time, I purchased about a dozen different colors of DUCT TAPE. Each room has its own color...and my girls who share a bedroom each have their own color. As each box is packed, a square of Duct Tape is torn off and affixed to the box. I love how much easier it is to use Duct Tape than squares of colored paper. With the paper, I had to cut it up into pieces and then tape it onto the box. With the duct tape...a piece tears off very easily and since it's tape (duh!) no extra tape needed!

I've created a large poster identifying each color for where its boxes should go. Seeing as we're actually still house hunting and don't know for sure the layout and thus where a few things will go, those colors are blank for now.

As for homeschooling while moving...one of the best decisions I made with our last move was to set aside the entire school year's materials and pack those separately so that they were easy to find on "the other side". As it turned out, we had to leave behind most of our bookshelves, so it was nearly a year before most of my books were unpacked. But because I had the WHOLE school year's materials set aside, rather than just a couple months or a semester's worth, our school year wasn't affected.

So this time around, with the move being a local one, not from one state to antoher, I'm leaving all this year's materials out until just before Moving Day. I'll load them in plastic bins to transport to the new house and reshelve them right away. That will help limit the disruption the move will make in our school year!

What are some moving lessons you've learned? What about moving while homeschooling? Any tips you can share?

After over 20 years of homeschooling my four children (ages 8 - adult), I'm down to just one student. You'll find me juggling the busyness of homeschooling, working part time and being the wife of a seminary student.

2 comments:

Anonymous
said...

We try to unpack and clear out all the boxes ASAP. Our last move, we did it in a matter of a few days. Then you know where everything is at least!

Thankfully, in our area we have large recycling trailers in several locations. These include one specifically for cardboard boxes. So as we unpack, we can put the empty boxes in the car to be dropped into these trailers.

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After over 20 years of homeschooling my four children (ages 8 - adult), I'm down to just one student. You'll find me juggling the busyness of homeschooling, working part time and being the wife of a seminary student.